Fading Light: Shadow Born, Book 2 Read Online Free

becoming a hunter had been valid. He was a loose cannon. If he couldn’t follow direction, she didn’t want him on the team. The stakes were too high.
    Five minutes later a dark van drove into the alley. Brenna could feel Sam’s anger radiating through the steel. He had given his magic free rein, and it resonated from the metal, pulsating with need.
    The vehicle rolled to a stop inches from Brenna. Sam pushed the door open and stepped onto the pavement. He had gotten rid of the ponytail, and his hair fell in light reddish waves across his broad shoulders. Tall, but not as tall as Gray, he was lean and fit. His features were pronounced, but straddled the line between beautiful and masculine. He was a man a woman could stare at for hours and still find interesting.
    And he knew it.
    “I told you to stay put.” Brenna met him half-way.
    Sam shrugged. “I got distracted.”
    Her pulse thumped in her temples. Sam was like her child. But he was an adult, and she hadn’t given birth to him, so his antics got old.
    “Apparently.” Gray moved from the shadows. His hair had come unbound. It fell like a dark mane across his shoulders, highlighted by the fire behind him.
    Sam’s eyes widened.
    “Get with the program or you’re done.” Gray stood before Sam, a good head taller and half a foot broader. “We’re in the middle of a war.” He grabbed the other man by the throat and slammed him against the hard brick. “Pull your head out of your ass and do as you’re told.” Gray pushed open the door to the van with his free hand and tossed Sam inside. “Get out of here.”
    Sam glared at him through the windshield, his face flushed with rage. The van screeched into reverse.
    “I appreciate you taking initiative.” Brenna moved to Gray’s side. “But that was our ride.”
    Gray closed his eyes and curbed his temper. It had been a perfect opportunity to teach Sam a little humility, and he wouldn’t have let Sam leave if he hadn’t heard the unmistakable rattle of Seraph’s vehicle as it stopped alongside the alley. But no matter what he did, she always believed the worst of him. He wasn’t a monster, nor was he an idiot. Years ago he had failed Brenna. Spectacularly. In the past year since they had reunited, he had given her little reason to trust him, but not for lack of trying; they had been at odds for so long he was still struggling to let go of the past.
    The approaching vehicle jarred Gray from his thoughts. It pulled into the narrow alley, the exhaust wrapping around it like a foggy curtain. Brenna coughed as she stepped toward him and together they walked to the driver’s side window.
    “Get in,” Seraph ordered. “The humans are starting to riot. We need to get out of the city.”
    The rear door was unlocked, so Gray pulled it open. He stepped aside to let Brenna get in first, then slammed the door closed behind them. The loud thud echoed through the small space. Brenna shifted in her seat, wrapping the duster tighter around her body.
    “Nice show,” Gray said.
    “It served its purpose.” Seraph glanced in the direction of the fire. “At least this one was easy to contain.”
    Seraph had been his friend for almost a thousand years, and Gray could count on one hand the number of times he hadn’t been forthright. Seraph was angry at the situation with Brenna and blamed Gray for the dissension in their relationship. But he was also mad at Brenna for not understanding the position Gray had placed him in. Those feelings, combined with the fact he had fought Adare’s demons alone for four months, had left Seraph in a state of perpetual irritability. But that didn’t excuse him from keeping them in the dark.
    Gray straightened in his seat. “How many have there been?”
    “Enough. But this is the first since you got back.”
    “Why didn’t you tell us?”
    Seraph snorted. “You’ve been distracted.”
    Gray took a long breath and struggled to reel in his frustration. He didn’t blame Seraph for